Webcast: Drawing History

The Chemical Heritage Foundation will present a live webcast exploring how graphic novels, comic books and animation are used to tell true stories about science. Titled “Drawing History: Telling the Stories of Science through Comics and Graphic Novels,” the webcast will feature graphic novelist Jonathan Fetter-Vorm and science historian Bert Hansen who will discuss the power of visual media in telling history. “Drawing History” will also showcase two animations created by UArts students. The first animates part of a 19th century book that uses fairies to help children understand science, while the second brings to life a 17th century alchemy painting by David Teniers II.

Fetter-Vorm is the author of Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb, which merges text and imagery to vividly detail the race to build and the decision to drop the first atomic bombs. Hansen is professor of history, science and medicine at Baruch College of the City University of New York. His book, Picturing Medical Progress from Pasteur to Polio, shows how mass-media images both shaped and reflected popular attitudes to medicine from the late 19th to the mid-20th century. Professor Hansen has also contributed to Chemical Heritage magazine.